BJR
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Debray, M P
Right arrow Articles by Schouman-Claeys, E
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Debray, M P
Right arrow Articles by Schouman-Claeys, E

Imaging appearances of metastases from neuroendocrine tumours of the pancreas

M P Debray, MD1, O Geoffroy, MD1, J P Laissy, MD, PhD1, R Lebtahi, MD2, O Silbermann-Hoffman1, M C Henry-Feugeas, MD, PhD1, G Cadiot, MD, PhD4, M Mignon, MD, PhD, FRCP(London)3 and E Schouman-Claeys, MD1

Departments of 1Radiology, 2Nuclear Medicine and 3Gastroenterology, Bichat-Claude-Bernard Hospital, 46 rue Henri Huchard, 75877 Paris Cedex 18 and 4Department of Gastroenterology, CHU de Reims, 51092 Reims Cedex, France



View larger version (140K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 1. Because they frequently grow slowly, metastases from endocrine tumour of the pancreas (ETP) may attain a large volume without rapidly compromising life expectancy. On this contrast enhanced CT, the entire right lobe of liver and the fourth segment contain confluent metastases from a non-functional ETP. Coeliac lymphadenopathy is present.

 


View larger version (101K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 2. Multiple liver metastases of a non-functional endocrine tumour of the pancreas showing (a) moderate to high hyperintensity on T2 weighted MR images, (b) hypointensity on T1 weighted images and (c) enhancement that is either homogeneous or peripheral after iv gadolinium chelate. (d) Octreoscan, which detected not only this diffuse liver involvement but also multiple metastases in the skull, thoracic spine, ribs, pelvis, shoulders and femurs, provides whole-body metastatic screening.

 


View larger version (112K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 3. MRI showing pseudoangiomatous liver metastasis from a non-functional endocrine tumour of the pancreas. T2 weighted spin echo image shows a homogeneous, hyperintense, sharply limited nodule in the posterior sector of the liver, mimicking haemangioma (left). Gradient recalled echo image obtained 40 s after injection of gadolinium chelate shows peripheral non-globular enhancement of the lesion (right), which was no longer visible on delayed images (not shown).

 


View larger version (60K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 4. (a) Gastrinoma liver metastases on CT following iv iodinated contrast medium are markedly enhanced during the arterial phase. (b) Some of the metastases are difficult to detect during the portal venous phase. Low attenuation and calcified lesions are the result of prior chemoembolisation.

 


View larger version (108K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 5. Vipoma liver metastasis is hyperechoic, with irregular and ill defined margins.

 


View larger version (129K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 6. Lateral radiograph of the lumbar spine shows heterogeneous sclerosis of the body and anterior part of the pedicles of the second lumbar vertebra, indicative of mixed osteolytic and osteosclerotic spinal metastases of a non-functional endocrine tumour of the pancreas.

 


View larger version (132K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 7. Numerous gastrinoma metastases in L1–L4 vertebrae are (a) hypointense on T1 weighted MR images and (b) hyperintense on T2 weighted MR images. (c) They are partly enhanced after iv gadolinium chelate.

 


View larger version (142K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 8. The multiple lung nodules on this chest radiograph are metastases from a gastrinoma.

 


View larger version (55K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 9. (a) Lung nodule on CT. Although Octreoscan was more sensitive, detecting a hot spot before the nodule became visible on CT, thoracic CT performed several months later precisely located the nodule in the right superior lobe close to the ventral bronchus (arrow). (b) In another patient with insulinoma and gastrinoma related to multiple endocrine neoplasia type-1 (MEN 1), an enhanced mass in the anterior mediastinum on CT proved, after histological examination of the resected tumour, to be a thymic carcinoid. In both cases, neither radiological imaging nor somatostatin receptor scintigraphy was able to distinguish a solitary lung or mediastinal node metastasis from a primary bronchial or thymic carcinoid related to MEN 1.

 


View larger version (129K):

[in a new window]
 
Figure 10. Peritoneal carcinomatosis in a patient with a non-functional endocrine tumour of the pancreas. CT shows multiple enhanced nodules (arrows) involving the peritoneum adjacent to the rectum, associated with ascites (arrowheads).

 





HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
BJR DMFR IMAGING  ALL BIR JOURNALS 
Copyright © 2001 by the British Institute of Radiology.